Comments on: Conservatives: if we’re so smart how come we keep getting out-maneuvered politically? *UPDATED*http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/21/conservatives-if-were-so-smart-how-come-we-keep-getting-out-maneuvered-politically/
Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.Tue, 31 Mar 2015 19:26:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0By: Earlhttp://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/21/conservatives-if-were-so-smart-how-come-we-keep-getting-out-maneuvered-politically/comment-page-1/#comment-152607
Sun, 24 Feb 2013 06:13:54 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152607
Mike: Maybe it’s because I take much the same approach, but I can’t see any “snit” in what you’re doing! How does that last paragraph not make sense?

On the other hand, although in a state where my vote would not make any difference in the outcome, I’d have voted Libertarian in 2012, if there were ANY chance that Romney might have edged out Obama, I’d have voted for Mitt.

As I think about it, though, Mitt and folks like him may actually be “part of the problem rather than the solution”. Reading those two articles helped me down this path….we need people of conviction who speak the conviction. A Ted Cruz; a Rand Paul….who are a LONG ways from Mitt Romney!
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Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:21:14 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152604Earl, sometimes I view myself as a child having a tantrum. “I’m taking my ball and I’m going home!” and I stomp off in a snit. That’s how I view the way I feel about the GOP these days.

I view the GOP as part of the problem, not part of the solution. Every election year, I am told that *realistically* I must choose between the Democrat and the Republican. And of course, given that, I’d choose the Republican as the lesser of two evils. I’m told that if I don’t vote for the Republican, I am in essence giving the vote to the Democrat.

But after 2012 I just cannot play that game anymore. I reject that argument. I’ll offer my own analogy: A mother of an eight year old girl has a choice of two boyfriends. One will molest her daughter. The other will beat her daughter and send her to the emergency room. She has to choose one! My answer: No she does not. She has to spurn both of them, reject both of them, and go it alone or find a new boyfriend.

I’ll still support individual GOP candidates, but only as individuals, and ONLY for the reason that I can support them. Merely being a lesser evil than the Democrat alternative will no longer suffice. If I view that candidate as still being part of the problem rather than the solution, I’m not voting for him or her, period. I’ve had it.
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Sun, 24 Feb 2013 03:25:40 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152597
Ymar: I do not foresee EVER “getting rid of” the Left. The Utopian delusion is strong in a certain segment of human-kind, and isn’t going to be going away. The answer is to get most folks to see that their ideas are wrong, and lead to disaster if implemented. The current GOP doesn’t seem interested in doing this.

Mike: We live to serve!
Honestly, the Republicans have been “dead to me” for some time, now. I vote for their candidates when it matters, otherwise for the libertarians in order to strengthen their message and see that it gets out to as many as possible. They’re a disaster in some respects, but not a threat to implement the crazy stuff….the more people hear (Can I say “Rand Paul”) a message that the government needs to do a lot more Leaving Us Alone, the better.
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Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:35:58 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152590A lot of people don’t want to get rid of the LEft, they just want to make a deal where they benefit. This is similar to how people think that self defense is composed of either giving the criminals what they want or running away. It does in no way destroy the threat. It just delays it, at the best case scenario.
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Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:15:22 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152571Thx Earl!

The second link is Angelo Codevilla’s followup to the now famous (classic?) “ruling elite” article from a couple of years back. Codevilla is now talking New (3rd) Party, making the GOP out to be on the verge of Whig-dom. It’s something I agree with. I’m convinced the GOP has no intention or desire to institute smaller government nor limited government. They want to share total power with the Democrats, is all, and institute some of their own Big Government Power.

I’ll stay with the GOP if by some miracle they do end up truly advocating smaller, limited government. But I don’t expect them to, I’m not holding my breath, and, really, all I myself am waiting for is the Big Split to occur within the GOP. I’m waiting for the new Party to emerge.

As far as I’m concerned, the GOP is dead. It just doesn’t know it yet. Whenever the new Party gets its act together, the best and the brightest in the GOP, the fighters for limited government, will leave the GOP for the new Party. It might not happen. If it happens, it might not be for quite a while. I don’t care. The GOP is dead.

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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:13:13 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152561
Mike (and all): Reading the following two essays will give you significant insight into what’s going on with the GOP.

Our GOPers today lack all conviction, while the worst Democrats are full of passionate intensity. (Yeats nod.)

The Democrats wouldn’t know what was hitting them if the GOP were fighters. What is the reason? It may be that our GOPers are corrupted utterly by special interests and the GOPers will *never* reduce the size of government, never, and they are betraying us with every step and every breath.
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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:42:08 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152543
Sean Hannity interviewed Gingrich Thursday, and he pointed out that during the revolution of the ’90s, the House majority met regularly and agreed on their talking points for the day, or week, or whatever. So, whenever a House member was interviewed, the message went out. Today, if you interview 10 different members, it appears that there are 10 different agendas – or at least major emphases – among the GOP caucus.

Newt Gingrich has MANY problems – he’s a flawed human being, like the rest of us – but he is a gifted communicator and the current GOP could learn a LOT from him. His diagnosis is the same as Wolf Howling’s — communications!! It’s not a coincidence that when the Republicans (and the conservatives) were led by The Great Communicator, things went a LOT better.

Why isn’t one or another of the House GOP membership out giving an interview, or a speech, or a press conference on a daily basis, spreading the Republican message? IS THERE a “Republican message”?

That we, who are paying attention and caring deeply about this, can’t all reply to that question with answers that resemble each other is proof positive that this is a giant failure on their part.

I want to say that I LOVE Ted Cruz – I went on to someone’s site and sent him a letter of support and encouragement when he was under such fire for asking perfectly reasonable questions, and explaining the reason that getting answers was so important, about Chuck Hagel’s speechmaking and who was paying him to give them.
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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 02:33:32 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152536[...] an earlier post, I railed against the fact that conservatives, despite good ideas, good history, and good spokes [...]
]]>By: Wolf Howlinghttp://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/21/conservatives-if-were-so-smart-how-come-we-keep-getting-out-maneuvered-politically/comment-page-1/#comment-152535
Fri, 22 Feb 2013 02:14:14 +0000http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26800#comment-152535Book, you need to make an appointment for Dr. Krauthammer for some happy pills. The right should have won the last election going away. We didn’t for a host of reasons, none of which are permanent. But we are clearly reaping the whirlwind from the far left movement that began in the 60’s and is now at the zenith of its influence. It is tough times to be a conservative, But this is Dunkirk, not Masada.

It is not that our candidates are unappealing – it is that the left is successful in making them toxic. And when you really drill down, it is often because we don’t fight back at the time. Many speculate that is what happened with Romney.

It is not that our ideas our unappealing – what could be more appealing then setting the stage for a very strong economy.

Our problem is communications, communications, communications.

1. Communications problem number one is that the vast majority of our side of the equation are nowhere near as vocal and animated as they need to be. It is the difference between Gingrich and Mitch McConnell. The only person in Congress today who comes close on the right to the type of aggressiveness we need is Sen. Cruz.

2. Communications problem two – reaching the low information voters who decided the elections. The ideas to do this are out there, with the best probably coming from Glen Reynolds – buy up some of the popular pop culture web sites, keeping most everything the same but for the occasional article on politics.